Entergy: Arkansas Nuclear One To Partially Restart

by Talk Business & Politics staff ([email protected]) 97 views 

Entergy officials say they are making plans to restart Arkansas Nuclear One’s Unit 2, a process anticipated to take several weeks. The unit has been offline since Sunday when it shut down automatically after a 550-ton generator stator fell as it was being moved out of the turbine building, a non-nuclear area of the plant. One worker was killed and three others were injured in the industrial accident.

The Unit 1 generator stator was being moved for replacement, and a new stator scheduled for installation is already staged at an offsite location, Entergy said.

“Ultimately, we are committed to restoring both units at ANO to full power operations,” said Jeremy Browning, ANO site vice president. “We have augmented our team with both corporate staff and outside experts for the methodical process of inspection and assessment to ensure we fully understand what happened over the weekend, and that our restart is conducted safely.”

Further evaluation will be needed for Unit 1, Browning added, where damage evaluation, repair estimates and rescheduling the unit’s refueling activities will take more time.

Both units remain in a stable, shutdown condition. Unit 1 is receiving power from diesel generators, and work is under way to restore off-site power over the coming days. Unit 2 is receiving off-site power.

The company emphasized that there was no radiological release and no impact on public health and safety.